Free agent right-hander Liam Hendriks underwent Tommy John surgery in early August and is hoping to be back on the mound roughly one year after going under the knife. He tells Scott Merkin of MLB.com that he’s targeting next year’s trade deadline as a return goal. It appears he has had conversations with some teams but nothing is imminent in terms of getting a deal done.
Hendriks, 35 in February, is wrapping up a challenging year dominated by off-field concerns. He announced in January that he would be starting treatment for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He completed his chemotherapy treatment in April and announced that he was declared free of cancer shortly after that. He began a rehab assignment in early May and was activated from the injured list by the end of that month. Just a couple of weeks later, he landed on the injured list due to elbow inflammation and required TJS in early August, having thrown just five big league innings for the year.
As part of the deal he originally signed with the White Sox, they had a $15MM club option for 2024 that came with a $15MM buyout. The difference, however, was the timing of those equal payments. They decided to buy him out and pay him $1.5MM in 10 annual installments as opposed to picking it up, which would involve paying the entire amount during the 2024 campaign.
Now a free agent, Hendriks will be a long-term play for any interested club, as he’ll miss at least the first few months of the upcoming season. Any club that signs him would be hoping for a late-season boost to the bullpen or would perhaps just be thinking about 2025. One of those teams is the Cubs, with Hendriks relaying that they reached out, but it appears those talks were more preliminary than anything.
“There’s been nothing substantial about any of the conversations we’ve had,” he said. “But they were one of the teams that reached out pretty early on.” It seems other clubs are taking a similar wait-and-see approach. “Obviously, we are in no rush. My timeline hasn’t changed. I’m not going to be ready in April. Teams are making sure they really get their main part of 2024 set up. We’ve had some clubs call and be like, ‘Once it heats up, let us know.’”
His ultimate market might come down to who still has a bit of money left in their budget after the other free agents are signed and Spring Training approaches. But whoever does get him to put pen to paper will obviously be banking on his tremendous run as an elite closer, prior to his mostly lost season in 2023. From 2019 to 2022, he posted a 2.26 earned run average over 226 appearances, racking up 114 saves in the process. He struck out 38.8% of batters faced while walking just 5.1% of them.
If he can get back to anything close to that kind of performance, he would upgrade any bullpen in the league. But for now, it seems he has to wait for things to progress. His target is on the shorter end of the typical TJS return but he could be an intriguing wild card in the 2024 campaign even if he misses that goal by a month or so. On MLBTR’s Top 50 Free Agents post, Hendriks was predicted to secure a two-year, $12MM contract.
Good luck with that aspiration. Hope he can do it.
Personally, I think its worth a two year flyer to see.
Let’s go reds
Hopefully we as a society can trade him back to Australia at the deadline #goodbyeliam #leavemealone
But why?
I’ve said my piece
And it was a piece of s**t. Good on ya!
Stay mad. I elect to add you as a throw in when we exile hendricks
ook
He’s always welcome back down under, you on the other hand….
A former closer recovering from TJ? How has AA not already signed him to a make good deal with the Braves?
That would be Theo Epstein, how Hendricks f up’s the elbow /shoulder is off considering he was not pitching a year before that. Braves do have a former Australian reliever as a coach in the org.
Have no bad feelings towards him. However kinda doubt he throws in an mlb game next season. 2/12? He’s not a top 50 free agent thos off season IMO.
I disagree… he fully recovered from Cancer then just blew out his arm. Sure some guys struggle to make it back but he is also just a 1-inning type guy. If any type type of 35 year old pitcher can do it, I’d bank on him
Best wishes to this man. He’s overcome an unreal amount of challenges and he will continue to beat em
Dodgers getting excited about their eventual 2 year deal with this news.
I’m predicting 2/$12M with $1 being deferred each year for 12 million years
Fletcher: You’ve obviously worked for the WS.
A power reliever can often return from TJS in a year’s time as command is not as critical, but he likely won’t be back to top form until 2025 when he’s 36. Some team will give him a shot but it will have to be a two year deal.
Yes I agree, hopefully my Cubbies at least kick the tires, wouldn’t mind another power arm in the bullpen.
Is there any player the cubs aren’t interested in?
Jed needs to get bullpen arms, he didn’t do a great job last offseason but now it’s win-now mode he needs to start kicking the tires and making offers on some of these guys.
I wouldn’t mind seeing the Cubs take a 2 year flyer on Hendriks. Heck he probably still lives in Chicago so it would help him. I highly doubt he comes back by the trade deadline on top of all his other physical challenges but I would NOT bet against this man on anything.
Going to be interesting to see what they do when they dont sign Yamamoto
Cardinals went to the discount aisle but at least got their shopping done. Reds retooling and getting better. Brewers always competitive.
Gonna be the A’s only notable signing
I guess this is the MLB’s equivalent of the NBA’s waive and stretch provision.
If it was full TJ then I doubt it. If his wasn’t a full TJS then 12 months isn’t out of the question.
Good luck Hendriks. The last 37 pitchers who picked an early return date . . . never made it by that date.
As a White Sox fan and baseball fan, this guy is flat out awesome. I was really hoping the Sox and Liam could work something out that would fit for each side. But the business of baseball….
…is something Reinsdorf knows nothing about. Did anybody who follows the Sox think for one minute that Reinsdorf would pay anyone $15m? It could be Ohtani and Reinsdorf still wouldn’t go over $3m.
At this point, we just have to wait for Father Time to take care of Jerry, and hope the next guy is better. Wishful thinking but that’s all that’s available right now…
Bring the career full circle- back to Minnesota.
C’mon Cardinals put my favourite player on my favourite team and send some scouts to Australia there is so much potential here in OZ, the sporting capital of the world. Population of 26 million we always fight above our weight.
I think signing him could be a huge boon for whoever does so. Every contending team is looking for bullpen help at the trade deadline and having a guy with his track record lurking around the corner is a pretty enticing option. Sure he could face setbacks but even the worst case is probably a month in 2024 down the stretch and playoffs and then full 2025. There’s always risk he won’t fully recover but as far as character and determination are concerned I certainly wouldn’t bet against him. Would like to see the Red Sox take a shot on him. Best case he’s a dominant setup guy down the stretch and insurance for Jansen should he walk after the season.
Cubs clearly aren’t doing much for 2024, so they might as well start planning for 2025.
After what he has been through I hope it works out for him. He is a fighter and we build ’em tough in Australia.
Holy smokes! I thought the Cubs were going to be getting after it this offseason…